Grand Conversations

As I continue my education journey to become a teacher, I am making a unit plan for a 3rd-grade language arts class. For the unit, my lessons revolve around different forms of poetry. One of the books that is planned to be used in the lessons is "Ode to a Commode" by Brian P. Cleary. This book has many different poems, that follow the Concrete poem structure. Concrete poems are written about something in particular and are usually shaped like the topic choice. In the lesson plan, the teacher is to read a few of these poems out loud to the class. After reading a couple of the poems, the students will participate in a grand conversation. 

During the grand conversation, the students can and will discuss several different things. The teacher's job is to guide the grand conversation and to allow the students to run the majority of it. I have always been told that during grand conversations, the teacher's role is to be the mediator. Therefore, the teacher is the person to help guide them in ideas to discuss and ensure the conversations are positive and informative.

Some of the things that can be discussed during the grand conversation are the student's opinions about Concrete poems. However, the most important aspect of the grand conversation is to get the students to understand that Concrete poems tell a story about an object, person, place, etc. but have a shape that is similar to the topic/theme of the poem.

When thinking about a grand conversation in my own classroom, I like the idea of having the students all sit in a circle. This allows the students to all be facing each other and have a less likely chance of having distractions. Sitting in a circle gives the student a chance to look face to face and allows the teacher to see every student's participation very easily.